How we can help

Counselling & Therapy Services

Children and adolescents may experience a range of difficulties in growing up. Sometimes these are related to family relationship issues and sometimes to school or peer pressures. FCT offers a choice of potential counsellors as locally as possible to the family. All counsellors / therapists who see children referred to FCT are carefully vetted and have prior experience of working with children. They are all trained and registered with a professional body, insured, hold clear enhanced DBS certificates and work in accordance with local safeguarding procedures. We accept referrals for counselling as outlined below.

Who we see for Counselling:

Children and young people referred up to age of 18 with:

Mild depression

Mild anxiety and obsessional behaviour

Early concerns about body image, eating and weight which are interfering with functioning

Challenging behaviour and difficulty regulating emotions

Being bullied, bullying others and peer group difficulties

School refusal or non-attendance

Problems arising from bereavement, family break up, loss or upheaval

Family communication and relationship issues

Mild self-harm

Minor issues with substance misuse

Emotional and behaviour problems arising from physical illness or disability

FCT can see children and young people with established diagnoses and those who are on medication e.g. ADHD, ASC, mild learning difficulties provided the problems fit within the criteria above.

Who we don’t see

Children and young people who generally have more complex long-term disorders and need a multi-agency team and a range of skills which FCT cannot provide.

If appropriate, FCT is able to offer a further course of counselling to families 12 months after the end of the last counselling session.

What therapy do we offer?

The most important thing about therapy is that the child likes the therapist, feels relaxed and comfortable and that the therapist ’gets’ them. Some children find it very difficult to talk to a stranger, especially about sensitive things so we work hard to get a good fit for the child and the therapist, the therapist’s skills and the area the child lives in.

We offer several different sorts of therapy: some problems need a specific approach and some therapists use a more mix and match style according to the needs of the child and the family.

Family therapy

Looks at problems from the point of view of each member of the family and how each person affects everyone else. Family therapists are very skilled at enabling families to talk to each other about difficult things and this is helpful in finding strengths and solutions to relationship and communication problems. The therapist will generally want to see as many members of the family as possible but can work with whoever comes over several sessions.

Art therapy

Uses art and creative materials to help children express themselves and explore problems without always having to use words. This can be especially useful for children who find talking difficult or who don’t know what the problem is or what they are feeling. The therapist is skilled in making use of creative materials to help the child understand themselves better and work out ways of understanding and coping.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

Helps children understand how their thoughts and beliefs affect their feelings and behaviour and how it’s possible to understand, challenge and learn to change these when they are unhelpful. It is mainly a talking therapy but also uses pictures and graphics particularly with younger children. It can be very effective in helping with anxiety, low mood and worries about self-image etc.

Trauma Therapy

This is specifically for children who have experienced psychological or physical trauma eg sexual abuse or an accident or injury. There are several forms of therapy including trauma focused CBT and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing). Therapy helps the child recover from the damaging effect of traumatic memories and experiences and aims to prevent them interfering with the child’s life and development.

There are other therapy approaches and you may see the words integrative, humanistic and person centred psychotherapy in the therapists’ profiles. These talking approaches explore aspects of the child’s life aiming to help increase the child’s understanding of themselves and their situation and build on their strengths. They are generally more suited to older children and teens.

Several of our therapists include mindfulness training. This can be very useful in helping children and parents learn breathing and meditation particularly when feeling stressed or overwhelmed. It develops self-calming and emotional control skills.